Talitha, Ophelia and I had great fun trying out Diddi Dance pre-school dance classes recently, along with Diddi Dance CDs which allow you to continue the fun at home. In fact, the CDs have pretty much become our daily soundtrack, with the three of us throwing shapes in the kitchen. Even Laurence has had a Diddi Dance-a-thon with the girls.

I got Talitha a simple CD player for her to operate herself and gave her my old CD case since I don’t really listen to CDs much anymore whilst she’s amassing quite the collection. She fastidiously puts each one in it’s place an clearly enjoys the autonomy this set up has given her.

We have had to agree to turn the music off during dinner time and we went through a period of time where she listened to nothing but the Diddi Dance CDs but now we’ve settled to a point where I’m allowed to listen to my music too (mostly folk) and sometimes we enjoy a bit of classical music on the radio.

What’s great about the collection of original songs is that it’s not too kiddy or samey. It covers a variety of different dances and holidays. Our favourite tune has to be “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?” You’d have to be stone cold for this not to get you dancing with your kids, I reckon. We randomly break out into lines of it through out the day but then, I basically view life as a musical so maybe that’s just us.

Talitha is also fascinated by the songs that incorporate Spanish and French. She’s really interested in other languages at the moment, noticing when she hears other people speaking in an unfamiliar language or if we come across it in books we’re reading. I’ve been thinking about how to start introducing this a bit more into what we do day to day and these songs are useful, especially when counting.

Diddi Dance sent us the CDs before we went to a 45-minute class so Talitha enjoyed recognising songs in the dance routine. Ophelia was a bit too young for it at the time. It’s specifically aimed at 2-4 years, though am 18-month-old would happily get a lot out of it, I’d say. The teacher was warm and lively and there was a good mix of group and individual activities, with parents and carers encouraged to join in.

There’s good variety in the music, themes and moves as well as fun props like hoola hoops and shakers. It’s a good, active class. We all enjoyed it so much that I was even up for signing up along with a friend who’s daughter used to do it. However, scheduling conflicts and the fact that I don’t have a car got in the way. If you are looking for a fun preschooler dance class I’d definitely give this a look in.

Diddi Dance is giving away a bundle of three Diddi Dance CDs here on the blog. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and comment with the song that gets you dancing every time (with or without your children!).

The other day my brother asked if he could be the one to introduce Talitha to superheroes. We spent many a Saturday morning watching Batman and, though he was far more into the comic book thing than I (his copies are probably still kept in plastic), DC characters are a big part of our shared childhood. I know there’s a saying that no child remembers the days the spent watching TV but, actually, those were some really good times for us! And he now works in video editing so maybe it was a bit educational, ha!

WB Kids and DC Kids have launched new YouTube channels, including favourites like Batman Unlimited, DC Super Friends and Scooby Doo. Subscribe if you want to keep up with new videos they’re adding over the year. Talitha is still really sensitive to even mild peril at four so I think we’ll be holding back (or vetting carefully) for now but she’s getting interested in superheroes so funny shorts like this one are just the thing:

Warner Bros are also giving away a mystery toy gift basket worth £40. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter.

I mentioned last week that Laurence is working in London so I’m flying solo during the week. It’s definitely been tougher than I expected – a lot of adjusting, a lot of facing things in myself that I need to work on and a lot for the kids to cope with. BUT…I get to watch whatever I want to watch on TV. There is, my friends, a bright side to everything.

I’ve also just been invited to join the Netflix stream team. They’re giving me a subscription and some other perks in exchange for chatting about what I watch.

So here’s what I’ve been watching.

I actually haven’t looked at loads because I get a bit overwhelmed with choice whenever I turn Netflix on. There is just so much on there! That, and with Laurence not here, I actually have less time to sit down and watch anything than I would if he were. Go figure. I won’t mention everything I’ve watched, though. Just the highlights.

The standout film for me has been Rudderless. It’s an indie film about a father (Billy Crudup) whose adult son tragically dies. He moves through grief by playing his son’s songs and passing them off as his own. He finds himself living on his son’s music and discovers in it an unlikely link back to life in this raw, gently paced story of transformation.

Rudderless is at once heartbreaking, shocking and desperately beautiful. It asks questions about how we pick apart this kind of experience, whether it’s really possible to move on.

It was the first time I’d seen Anton Yelchin in a serious dramatic role and I’d definitely like to check out more of his work. He’s perfect in this. To be honest, they all are.

Needless to say, I will be watching it again and making Laurence watch with me one of the weekends he’s back.

Another film I’m glad I saw was Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. I don’t know why I keep watching sad films. Hurt so good, maybe?

In this film, Natalie Portman plays a mother whose three-day-old baby dies of SIDS. The film focuses in on her relationship with her eight-year-old stepson, tense but touching.

Considering the plot’s anchor in a parent’s worst nightmare, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits is surprisingly uplifting and, at times, gently humourous. I’d be well up for reading the novel it’s based on.

I’m also a few episodes into Grace and Frankie, a Netflix original series about two middle aged women, polar opposites, whose husbands leave them – to marry each other. It’s funny and thought-provoking (Lily Tomlin is fantastic in this!) but I’m not sure it’s grabbed me enough to continue so I’ll probably delve into something else though I might be back.

On to what Talitha’s been watching.

I was really excited about introducing Talitha to a childhood favourite Care Bears until I saw the 3D and realised they’d only gone and changed it in the past 20-something years! I’m not sure how I feel about that and I haven’t had time to explore it because she got scared of the baddie pretty much right away. She’s still not good with the mildest suspense, which rules out most of what’s available on Netflix!

In the end, she’s mainly watched Peppa Pig and Barney and Friends. I used to love Barney – until I got old enough to realise it was annoying! But now I love how much she loves it so it’s totally changed my perspective on it. Innocent, fun, educational, NOT AT ALL SCARY – what’s not to like? I’m amused by how delightfully retro it is and that that doesn’t bother her at all – got that, weird 3D Care Bears?!

Do you have Netflix? Any suggestions for TV series I should give a go?

Sign up for my monthly newsletter to keep up to date with Beautiful Tribe news.

A few days ago, while Talitha and I were making supper, she suddenly said: “Mummy, we need to save the rhinos! People are trying to kill them because they want their horns and that is very bad.” I was surprised, to say the least. “Where did you hear about that?” I asked. She sighed with all the exasperation an almost four-year-old can muster. “It was in the iPad game we were playing the other day.”

The “game” she was talking about was the iPad edition of National Geographic Kids UK magazine. It’s interactive enough that I could see why she called it that. The iPad edition includes videos, sounds and games. Many of the pages include sound effects like animals noises, with touchable features to reveal information.

Honestly, I thought it would be a bit old for Talitha but she was absolutely gripped and insisted we read the whole thing together. She’s not reading independently yet so it wasn’t really something she could get the most out of without me but it made for a lovely time together in our reading nook, while her little sister napped.

Another time (after the rhino talk), she looked through it on her own and I heard her talking to herself, surprising me with how much she remembered from us looking through it. It’s got us talking about a lot of issues I’d previously assumed she was a bit young to understand. I obviously misjudged because she’s been very interested, asking pretty insightful questions about conservation and recycling. I’ve learned quite a bit from it too!

I have previously preferred traditional magazines to app versions but I can really see how it works here. The presentation is cleaner and more engaging, she’s able to look at it if we’re on the go and haven’t thought to bring a magazine (on a train journey for example) and she can look at it without much input from us or it’s something we can look at together.

The only downsides are that the iPad edition is not as intuitive as I’d expect it to be so some things didn’t do what we thought they would but this really was a minor point. As a starting point for exploring topics, it’s another useful tool in the box.

The National Geographic Kids UK app gives a 12-month subscription to the digital edition and is currently available for £20 on the NG Kids website.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter to keep up to date with Beautiful Tribe news.

In the absence of laptops, we’d been thinking for a while that it might be useful to get another portable device.

Laurence sometimes takes the iPad for work and I like to sit on the sofa and get a bit of writing in if Talitha is watching TV in the afternoon and Ophelia is napping. We also quickly watch little videos on a device together, especially when we’re trying to find the answer to something.

Talitha has a few educational games she likes to play and while she’s pretty good at handling the mouse, a touch screen is, naturally, easier for her to manipulate.

On first impressions, it’s light, an easy size for Talitha to operate but big enough for my purposes too. I love the vibrant colour and it seems really sturdy and well-made as far as I can tell. This is going by looks and feel, of course. I’m not about to drop the thing. On purpose, anyway.

The battery life is much lower than our iPad Air. I didn’t time it but, surprised when it ran out, I looked around for reports online and a few noted a five-hour difference. That’s not a problem for our purposes. It’s just worth being aware of if you’re not used to it. You just want to charge it up before you hit, say, a transatlantic journey.

The touchscreen seems just as responsive as the iPad and it’s pretty intuitive to use, once you’ve had a little play.

You can’t really compare the two, of course. The Memo Pad is a budget tablet, retailing at just £99. The price makes it attractive as a tablet for our whole family as it’ll hurt a bit less, should something happen to it.

I do love how easily it connects with all my Google products, a feature you don’t get with Apple.

I reckon that could make it a good option if you’re looking for a first tablet for your teen, for instance. Defo look at the parental control options, obviously. I need to put some safety features on our MEMO Pad but, I admit I haven’t got that far yet.

What we’ve done so far:

Games: Annoyingly, it doesn’t support Flash so Talitha can’t play Reading Eggs, Maths Seeds or Teach your monster to read on it (firm favourites here) but she has played games on the CBeebies app with no problem.

Video & Music: We’ve watched YouTube videos and Alphablocks clips. The quality is decent and the size perfect for quickly grabbing and dipping in and out. The sound is slightly tinny to my ear but that hasn’t stopped me using it to practise for my a capella group.

Photographs: The camera is not as good as the one on my iPhone 5C so I won’t be relying on it but it’s fine for Talitha to take photos. I rather the kids don’t use my phone, anyway.

Word processing: For writing notes and emails, it’s a much better option than my phone by virtue of size. I’d still like to get a laptop at some point but this will certainly do for now.

Reading: The MEMO Pad 7 is similar size to my Kindle and I’ve been happy to read blog posts on it. I doubt it would replace a Kindle for me but it’s a good option if you don’t already have a reader.

All in all, I think you get a lot for your £99 with this tablet. I’m not sure it completely fulfils our need (desire?) for another portable device but it fills the gap for now.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter to keep up to date with Beautiful Tribe news.

This weekend we ticked another one off our summer bucket list by going to see Alice in Wonderland at the Wild Place. It was a great setting for it because we got to walk around and see some of the animals before setting up our picnic supper for the play.

It was the fourth play Talitha’s been to see and it’s just happened that my mother-in-law has either taken her or joined us each time. I have positive associations with my grandmother and trips to the theatre. I wonder if my girls will have the same.

I have to say I think the actors and audience were all pretty hardcore British about the weather as it rained off and on throughout the performance. I worried that this might be putting Talitha off as she sat rather solemnly throughout the whole thing. But she’s kept telling me: “The white rabbit man said, “I’m late, I’m late, I’m latey latey late!” She also asks when next we can go see a play. That makes sitting in the rain worth it to me!

I love that she’s getting to see real people taking up everyday objects and, essentially, imagining together. Even Ophelia was quite taken with the whole thing. For the first half she mostly sat up on her grandmum’s lap, taking in the strange sights and sounds. The second half she and I spent walking around for a jig to sleep – so, thank goodness it was an open-air play!

You taken your kids to anything like this?

Sign up for my monthly newsletter to keep up to date with Beautiful Tribe news.

Talitha and I have been loving watching Shaun the Sheep™ Shear Heat. It’s a series of ten short episodes of the well-loved British animation from the creators of Wallace and Gromit. It’s only just been released on DVD on July 21st.

There’s lots for me as an adult to appreciate. The detail that’s gone into this claymation surprises and delights, as usual.

It’s definitely pitched at a young child’s level, though. Common Sense Media rates it at age five, which feels about right. I tend to find that entertainment up to five is a good match for Talitha. She’s very sensitive to any sort of peril.

There were a couple of moments in the series where I needed to talk her through what was happening. Once when it looks like a man is coming after Shaun but he’s actually about to fix the farmer’s tractor then again when a grumpy bull is chasing the mischievous sheep.

Mind, I really don’t think most children would get antsy about these scenes but she gets very concerned about even mild danger so if you have a child who reacts similarly, it’s worth bearing in mind.

This didn’t mar her enjoyment of the DVD at all. In fact, she’s been chatting about it ever since. She wanted to know the names of the characters, so we looked them up online. She kept repeating that the dog was called Bitzer, so she’d remember it. She named the bull Frank – I guess so he’d be less scary.

Hilariously, she’s decided she wants Shaun to be a three-year-old girl sheep and for baby sheep Timmy to be Shaun’s baby sister! That must be the stamp of approval for Shaun the Sheep™ then!

To win a copy of Shaun the Sheep™ Shear Heat tell me how your kids deal with peril in films and on TV and enter the Rafflecopter widget below.

Here’s the company blurb to clearer idea of what you’re in with a chance to win:

“From Aardman, the acclaimed creators of Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep™ Shear Heat follows Shaun and his pals as they get up to yet more mischief! Comprising of ten short episodes, viewers are welcomed back to Mossy Bottom Farm to follow Shaun, Bitzer and the rest of the gang as they embark on a series of fun-filled adventures. Including hilarious episodes such as Shaun the Fugitive, Bull Vs Wool and The Hang Glider, this animated series will keep the kids laughing all summer. As well as a range of exciting behind-the-scenes features, the DVD also includes the teaser trailer for Shaun the Sheep™ The Movie , which is being released on February 6th 2015, and an in-pack colouring sheet. Be sure to join in the fun this summer as Shaun the Sheep – Shear Heat OUT NOW on DVD.”

Search

Hello hello! I'm Adele. You've arrived at my little piece of the internet where I blog about family life, home educating, creative living and anything else that feels like it fits. I'm a Trini mother and writer living in Cornwall, UK with my husband Laurence and our three kids.

Keep in touch!

* Please note that any information you supply here is safely stored in keeping with new GDPR legislation and will never be sold on to 3rd party advertisers. To view my privacy policy please click here.